Meet Julie & Megan Ardiel

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julie & Megan Ardiel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Julie & Megan , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

Megan: I developed the foundation of my work ethic from a very young age when my parents signed me up for a variety of sports teams from soccer to gymnastics. It was through these experiences that I developed a passion for strengthening new skills and a drive to become the best I could be at anything I put my mind to. I never liked the idea of women’s sports being seen as “lesser” than men’s sports, and felt like I had something to prove to be seen as an equal in the athletic world. I also didn’t like the perception that you had to be more masculine, or more of a “tomboy” in order to be good at sports as well. I wanted to prove that you could still be a feminine woman and excel at sports. This mentality drove to me to always be in the top tier of my teams. I always showed up for my team, but even more so I wanted to show up for myself and put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure I was performing at my best. This built my intrinsic motivation which has been a lifelong driving force for my work ethic.

Academically speaking, I was always the type of student to put as much time as possible into every assignment and every test to make sure that I produced to my fullest capacity. I hated the idea of leaving anything up to chance or not having used all the time that was allotted to me. However, when it came to standard tests where everyone got the same amount of time, I noticed that I always struggled to finish it in the same amount of time as my peers. As the years went on, I developed innovative strategies to adapt tests to meet my unique learning needs. For example, I had a hard time with reading comprehension as reading and comprehending was normally a two step process for me. In order to create a system that cut down on the time I needed to get the pertinent information, I would highlight the key words in the test questions on my first read through and use those to identify the key message for comprehension. Similarly, if I am reading out loud, I need to jot down key words for reference because if I read directly from a script, I find that I am unable to comprehend at the same time and the meaning of the message and the emotion I am trying to evoke in the audience gets lost.

When it comes to my career in nursing, my work ethic has helped me hone in on my critical thinking skills and holistic approach to patients. After several years of working a the hospital setting I began to realize that so many of the illnesses that clients were in the hospital for were preventable. That is what led me to make a career shift into public health where the approach is more upstream, preventative, and focuses on the underlying behavioural, and in some cases systemic barriers, towards people achieving optimal health.

As I have more recently become a wife and a homeowner, I am realizing that the work ethic skills I developed in childhood continue to play a role in my daily life. I am the type of person that believes that there isn’t anything I can’t do when I put my mind to it. This has led me to learning many new skills such as installing new light fixtures, building new backyard furniture, and demoing various walls in our home. My mentality has always been, “if someone else can do it, why can’t I”. I always prefer to try to learn how to do something myself rather than hiring someone else to do it for me. In doing so it’s always allowed me to dip into my creative side to find innovative solutions (like stuffing our crown moulding with cardboard so that the gap wouldn’t be too big to caulk).

Julie: I believe my work ethic comes from a desire to help others. Growing up, I was the oldest of 3 daughters, and my middle sister was born with Mild Intellectual Disability. I took my “big sister” role very seriously, and learned early on that when people are ignorant it can lead to circumstances where people get hurt. I would often stand up for my sister on the playground when people made fun of her, and found that when I was able to explain to others that she acted the way she did because she was born with a disability, their demeanour often changed. This taught me about the power of education and empathy, and was the driving force in wanting to become a teacher. I remember working incredibly hard in school to make sure that I earned good grades and would be able to get into the schools I wanted to in order to become a teacher. I also felt empowered as I learned more and strongly believed that education would be key to building community, empathy and positive change.

I was also raised with my nonni being a large part of our everyday life, and as immigrants to Canada they had incredibly strong work ethic. They told my sisters and I from a very young age that our only job was to go to school and work hard so that we could have the education, and therefore opportunities, that they never could as immigrants. They were the proof that if you worked hard, you could provide a better future for your family.

Now as a seasoned education, my work ethic continues to be driven by my passion for teaching and a hope that the future will be brighter if more young people are exposed to diverse learning experiences. I am constantly observing how my students work best, what accommodations they need, what supports they do or don’t have at home, and how I can get them interested in school. Building a safe and inclusive classroom community, coaching school sports teams, and running celebrations clubs have also helped me to help foster spaces where every child can feel empowered at school.

Having Megan as my wife and partner in life has been incredibly rewarding because we both have such strong work ethic and motivation to make upstream change. As a couple, I feel like we encourage, support and push each other to be the best versions of ourselves.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Although we have our own separate careers as an educator and nurse, the isolation during the pandemic inspired us to create our Blog and IG account @out_in.nature.

Initially our intention was to connect with likeminded individuals who enjoyed camping, travel, getting outdoors and wellness. Over time, as we’ve learned more about the industry and met incredible people along the way, our platform transitioned into what it is today. We’ve now had the opportunity to work with some incredible brands while providing positive and authentic representation for the LGBTQ+ community. As a same sex couple, we know how valuable it is to learn about safe spaces to travel to and love to highlight brands that support the community. We love being able to share our experience with others in hopes that it will help to provide some of the representation that we never really saw when we were growing up.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

1. Authenticity. Be yourself! As cliche as that might sound, it truly is your superpower. No one is just like you, and what you have to say will provide value to someone else out there who is looking for connection.

2. Prioritize genuine connection over quantity of follows and likes. At the end of the day, it’s the real connections that will have a larger impact than superficial numbers.

3. Protect your peace! If people are sharing hateful comments use that block button. Have boundaries when it comes to what you share, who gets to comment on and consume your content, and how much time you are spending online too. It is so important to continue to spend time outside, foster in person connections, and maintain a sense of balance.

If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?

One of the biggest challenges we face as a same sex couple being so open with our relationship online is finding the balance between protecting ourselves while also providing the positive representation that is so needed. With the political climate as it stands right now, things have become more and more polarizing. Knowing that “fake news” is creating so much of this culture, building a brand in media sometimes poses an internal dilemma because although we want to contribute positively, we know that these platforms also carry so much hate and perpetuate misinformation. Our hope is that we can always be a safe space online for anyone out there who might stumble upon our page or be following our journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://[email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/out_in.nature/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Out_innature/100066851078061/
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@out_in.nature?lang=en

Image Credits

Heather Hugo